THE LAST ROCKSTARS Press Conference

On November 11^th, YOSHIKI, HYDE, SUGIZO and MIYAVI reunited for a press conference that included representatives from Japanese and international media to announce their new project, a new superband called THE LAST ROCKSTARS.

In a relaxed and funny talk session that lasted for nearly two hours, they talked about how this idea came about, the meaning behind the group's name, their goals, and how they work together.

It's absolutely stunning to see these people line up together. So, please, tell us what this is all about.

YOSHIKI: The four of us, YOSHIKI, HYDE, SUGIZO and MIYAVI, will be creating a band called THE LAST ROCKSTARS together.

I’m sure there are many people who are surprised about this announcement. We have these international artists creating a band together. This is for sure going to be a superband. We’d love to hear your personal thoughts about it.

YOSHIKI: So, this is gonna be like “The Avengers”.

MIYAVI: Who is who? (laughs)

YOSHIKI: MIYAVI, you are the evil guy. (laughs) Or maybe you are the good guy.

MIYAVI: I play the guitar. We are here to rock the world with the four of us. I’ve always wanted people to play with, as I’ve been a solo artist. To be playing with these cool guys, I’m super excited to rock’n’roll. Today is 1111, November 11 ^th, it’s a very special day. We are 1+1+1+1, which is gonna create a hundred thousand. We're gonna go for it and we’re gonna go conquer the world. Thank you.

HYDE: Hi, I’m HYDE. I’m very excited that we're finally able to be here today. I’m very excited! A little nervous too! (laughs) Everything is really exciting and inspiring.

YOSHIKI: Why are you looking at me? (laughs)

MIYAVI: Because you are very inspiring, stimulating…

HYDE: This stimulus is gonna make my life really exciting. So, looking forward to it.

SUGIZO: I’m SUGIZO, and I’m playing in X JAPAN and LUNA SEA. MIYAVI, you’re fine, but for the three of us, this is the final challenge.

YOSHIKI: No, hey! What are you saying? (laughs)

SUGIZO: We are limited in terms of the amount of time we have left in our lives, so we are here to rock the world with the time that’s left for us. And with these members, there’s no way that I can—we are all going to be very serious about this, with sparks of fireworks. This excitement is like something I felt when I was in my teens, so feeling this again makes me want to rock Japan and the world and communicate this excitement. So I hope you guys can all root for us.

YOSHIKI: I have something to say too. MIYAVI, HYDE and SUGIZO all have their own bands. I mentioned “The Avengers” – we really want to go for the world. Each of us will continue our activities with our bands, but just like “The Avengers”, when we get together, we are going to make this challenge from Japan to the world.

MIYAVI: You’re our leader, YOSHIKI.

YOSHIKI: So, I hope you can root for us. Thank You.

[The logo appears on the big screen and everyone sits down.]

With the four of you creating a superband, I’m sure many of the viewers are surprised. Can you tell us a little bit about how this came to happen?

YOSHIKI: You know, long story short, it was actually quite a natural process. We see each other quite often as friends and we’ve talked about working together, me and HYDE, me and SUGIZO and me and MIYAVI. Then with COVID there were more opportunities to talk online through ZOOM. But actually, HYDE, you were the one who made the final call.

HYDE: Yes, it was me. As YOSHIKI and I have developed our friendship, YOSHIKI’s life is rock’n’roll itself, but his activities were going on without playing the drums, and I was like “How can that be? This is such a waste of talent!”. We see YOSHIKI playing the classical piano, but I felt that was such a waste of talent. So, since we had kind of been talking about it, if X was not going to continue activities, I thought "Give me a chance."

YOSHIKI: I was pretty surprised. You know, X is stable and sometimes active, but piano I can play even as aged, but “If I’m gonna rock’n’roll, it’s gotta be now,” that’s what HYDE said. So, it was a very straightforward message. (laughs)

We had been talking about working together, MIYAVI and SUGIZO and me as well, but now all the dots connected. Actually, MIYAVI and I were talking around the same time.

MIYAVI: We used to work together ten years ago. We want to create music—there aren’t that many rock artists that can create music that can really burn the world, and it’s such an honor to be working with these amazing artists. With COVID and Ukraine… the future seems quite dark, but for us to create some chemistry and let something explode, that can really rock the entire population of Japan.

SUGIZO: These members have all thought that rock bands are glamorous, edgy and exciting and that was what brought us into this world. It has been 30 years since we started our careers, but when you look at the world, there aren’t that many rock bands that are glamorous and edgy, that sort of light a fire in our spirits, and have that kind of charisma… Rock has sort of become a quiet thing and receded. People go to school to learn rock and I’m just like “What are you talking about?”. Rock should be glamorous, and it is about to go extinct… Glamorous rock is about to go extinct. So, THE LAST ROCKSTARS, this name was given because the rockstars who are about to go extinct are about to revive, and that is the spirit behind this name. And, with these wonderful, precious members, that is what I wanna do. When you look at world as MIYAVI said, it is heading in a negative direction and this kind of rock band creates love, and diversity and peace – it’s a tool for this. So, we want to remember that feeling we felt as kids and pass it on to Generation Z and the kids in the world, what rock can do… So, this band is going to be playing that role, the perfect way to send that message, and we are still creating the video and the music.

MIYAVI: This logo and the music video were actually just decided on last night. (laughs)

YOSHIKI: I actually have not seen the music video yet.

MIYAVI: No one has seen it.

SUGIZO: It was freshly created.

YOSHIKI: We are seeing it for the first time as well. When it goes to YouTube I wanna make sure it is right. (laughs) You all think I’m joking, but I’m pretty serious about it.

SUGIZO: The reason why the conference started late was because the video wasn’t ready, so we were pissed. So that’s why we came out late. (laughs)

[The teaser starts to play on the big screen.]


That was really cool! You just introduced two songs. Can you tell us a little about the music?

YOSHIKI: As SUGIZO mentioned, we were shooting this music video until this morning. (laughs) The title was also decided last night. There is a song called THE LAST ROCKSTARS as well. The first song is called THE LAST ROCKSTARS, I composed it and wrote the lyrics.

HYDE: And the second song, PSYCHO LOVE, was composed by me and the lyrics was written by me and YOSHIKI.

Since you are all musically very talented and you compose music on your own, who is going to play which role?

YOSHIKI: We're going to have songs that MIYAVI will compose, and SUGIZO as well.

You were mentioning, HYDE, that you talked to YOSHIKI about creating this band, but when was this?

HYDE: That was about a year ago maybe? A year or two…

YOSHIKI: It was pretty straightforward.

HYDE: Since YOSHIKI is so amazing and his schedule just fills up because he is always working on really interesting projects and time keeps passing, so I said, “Will you work with me first, and then work on your projects?”. (laughs)

So, thanks to you HYDE, I’m sure that there are many fans who are really excited. So, was it the first time that you four all performed together? What kind of chemistry did that create? What did you feel?

YOSHIKI: With HYDE, I created Red Swan, which was the theme song for “Attack on Titan”. SUGIZO is a member of X JAPAN, so we have performed many times together. And MIYAVI, we performed together ten years ago. 15 years ago, actually.

MIYAVI: Wow!

SUGIZO: Time flies…

YOSHIKI: MIYAVI and SUGIZO also performed together, and I also participated in SUGIZO’s projects. But for SUGIZO and HYDE it is the first time working together.

SUGIZO: Yes… No, wait, I played for Red Swan!

Do you guys also get into arguments?

MIYAVI: YOSHIKI actually has. (laughs)

SUGIZO: He starts fights and I always stop them. (laughs)

YOSHIKI: No, I don’t!

SUGIZO: We always try to stop YOSHIKI. I’ve been doing that for the past thirty years. (laughs)

HYDE: Personally, SUGIZO I think that you are the YOSHIKI tamer.

SUGIZO: That’s because YOSHIKI is a tiger.

What kind of discussions and arguments do you have?

YOSHIKI: Let’s change the direction of this conversation.

SUGIZO: No, it’s actually pretty peaceful.

So, you are going to compose music and release it, but there are also people waiting around the world excited to see you perform live. Do you have information about concerts?

YOSHIKI: Should we release the information about our concerts? Here it is.

[They show the dates of a tour titled THE LAST ROCKSTARS Live Debut 2023 on the big screen. The dates are listed further down the page.]

So, what are you looking forward to with these live shows?

HYDE: The four of us are all like “entertainment demons”, so we really need to make this a success, otherwise it’s gonna be pretty embarrassing. So, we are very excited about this and very serious.

YOSHIKI: I’ve believed that the four of us were meant to be together. But in the studio, we clash, and we all are producers. I am the leader, but each of us are also leaders. I lost my mother in May and everyone was so kind to me and told me to move forward. It was very encouraging, and I feel very grateful, and I thought, “I can still play rock”.

MIYAVI: As we were recording and filming last night, we have all accomplished something pretty big, so when we work together and clash, I don’t know what is gonna happen, so I’m just really excited and want to share that.

YOSHIKI: I know what is gonna happen. (laughs)

MIYAVI: No, you don’t! (laughs)

YOSHIKI: What other choice is there other than conquering the world?

MIYAVI: So, we're not here unless we're here to do that.

YOSHIKI: That is why we are called THE LAST ROCKSTARS. I thought about that when we named this band.

SUGIZO: We named the band that for a reason. We’re gonna have to live up to this name, so since there are so many songs being created, this is going to be a new standard for rock.

MIYAVI: Rock is not in the past. We want to show how it’s evolved and its new form.

Would you like to share with us any sort of a direction?

MIYAVI: No, because we just created the teaser video. (laughs)

Maybe a vision?

YOSHIKI: Well, one thing is that we have all performed overseas, so our vision in that sense is to send music to the world.


Q&A session with the media

Do you have any opening bands in mind for your US dates?

YOSHIKI: I don’t know what kind of production we will have for the upcoming shows in the US. It’s kind of hard to find a band that fits what we’re trying to do – we’re kind of very eclectic, but at the same time we have a certain vision, so–

MIYAVI: We are the new band.

YOSHIKI: Exactly! There’s a possibility we’ll have some opening acts, but as of now we don’t have anybody yet. We will see.

YOSHIKI, you were in Mexico two or three weeks ago, so is Mexico in your plans with this band?

YOSHIKI: Yes, I was touring with Sarah Brightman. A lot happened, and I kind of…fell apart, and had to cancel one show, but...I think everybody might have played in Mexico before. MIYAVI, you played in Mexico before, right?

MIYAVI: Yeah, I’ve played in Mexico City before. I’d love to go.

HYDE: Me too.

SUGIZO: I played there with X JAPAN and JUNO REACTOR before.

MIYAVI: Yeah, the country of rock!

YOSHIKI: I mean, we love Mexico, so we can’t wait to go back there.

As you mentioned, it’s such a bold name, THE LAST ROCKSTARS. What does the word “rockstar” mean to each of you?

MIYAVI: Lifestyle. It’s the attitude, you know, lifestyle. It’s not like drinking beer, breaking stuff… it’s not that kind of rock music to us. It’s always challenging to break new ground, to make a new path and share the excitement with the audience. I think that is the cool part of rock music, so that’s who we are. That’s the meaning of rock music to me… to us, I think.

SUGIZO: My rock meaning is of course attitude and philosophy, and the most important thing is innovation and evolution. It is not a musical genre, rock is a philosophy.

HYDE: For me, it is about drinking beer. (laughs)

MIYAVI: I just said that’s not what it’s about! (laughs)

HYDE: Diversity is important, so, yeah, beer. (laughs)

MIYAVI: I think it’s the thrill, like the excitement. I think that’s it.

SUGIZO: What is important is that this band name is actually ironic. As I mentioned before, rock bands are about to go extinct, and this situation must be recovered. This wish is captured in the name.

YOSHIKI: When I was in junior high, my teachers asked me “So, what do you want to be?”. Actually, all the students had to say what they want to be, so everyone was saying “I wanna be a doctor, or an attorney, blah, blah, blah,” and I said “I wanna become a rockstar!”. They said I had to be serious, to stop joking… The same thing happened when I went to high school, they said, “You have to write what you want to be” and I wrote “I wanna be a rockstar”. So, here we are.

You all have your primary projects but you’ve also collaborated with people in side projects, solo projects. YOSHIKI with classical music, and working with everyone from Sarah Brightman to Chainsmokers, and HYDE, you recorded a track with Apocalyptica. SUGIZO, you worked with JUNO REACTOR, and MIYAVI did an EDM single with a French DJ recently. What kind of musical influences can you bring to this project that you wouldn’t bring to your main groups? Is there something new and refreshing you get to do with this?

HYDE: When the members got together here, I wondered what’s gonna happen and I couldn’t imagine. So, I was a little worried, but when you think about it, rock bands are always inspiring each other, stimulating each other and it’s about the chemistry and that’s what’s so fun about a band. So, once I realized that, it’s such a crazy collection of people, everyone’s approach is very innovative and new, so it’s really fun.

MIYAVI: We never know what it’s gonna be like, and that’s why it’s fun and that’s the reason why we are here. That is rock music to us, so you’ll see and we’ll see.

SUGIZO: What is important is there is no bassist in this band. So, without a bassist, the music will be that kind of music…

MIYAVI: I thought I was going to play the bass. (laughs)

SUGIZO: HYDE doing bass and vocal is also pretty new, right?

YOSHIKI: Should I play the bass than?

SUGIZO: But what about the drums?

YOSHIKI: I’m joking. (laughs) Should we call for new members on this stage? As you know, we are pretty versatile. I play piano, I play drums and listen to classical music to rock, and anything in between. So does MIYAVI, so does HYDE, so does SUGIZO. We do have a certain genre each member may like, but at the same time we are very open minded. A lot of hip-hop artists got very big and successful through collaborations, featuring each other and kind of sharing their strengths, so why not do something like that? We each have our own strength. We can have super heavy music and at the same time I can put some piano, or MIYAVI can bring some DJ-ish things to it, HYDE can bring some scream thing and SUGIZO can come up with some very crazy noise, some very cool noise. So, it’s very exciting when we are in the studio, we can just come up with some new ideas. The song that HYDE wrote, PSYCHO LOVE, became like very EDM-ish. I just wrote the song THE LAST ROCKSTARS after we started working together, so I was thinking about what kind of song I would like to play and then I composed the song. So, the possibilities are limitless, so I’m very, very excited.

MIYAVI: The answer is we never know. (laughs)

YOSHIKI: At the same time, we have a vision, right? One thing I learned is that you never know when you’ll disappear from the world. You may not be existing in this moment tomorrow. I experienced that a lot. So, as if this is the last moment, we’re gonna put our entire energy into it. That’s the vibe.

When the four of you appeared on stage, it really did feel like “The Avengers” were coming up on stage. And since you’ve known each other for a long time, as musicians, what are your impressions of each other?

YOSHIKI: There aren’t many people like MIYAVI in the world. We were lucky enough to be born together in the same country, but if I did not know who MIYAVI was, I would probably wonder “Wow, who is this guy?”, because he is extremely talented. It is not just about him being Japanese… His presence, his existence, is just amazing. He doesn’t have a choice; he has to go out to the world. I’ve always wanted to collaborate with him, so it is such an honor. I mean, MIYAVI created his own guitar style, and that is amazing!

MIYAVI: Thank you! I’ll buy you an energy drink. (laughs)

YOSHIKI: As you know, HYDE is the vocalist of L'Arc-en-Ciel and I’ve also been to concerts from VAMPS and his solo concerts as well overseas. I’ve had the opportunity to work with amazing vocalists, including TOSHI, but HYDE has his own vocal style. He can sing beautiful melodies but he also screams. HYDE is a genre himself; he is a vocalist of a genre called “HYDE” and is someone who created his own genre. Even as we are recording, I am just blown away with his falsettos and his range. He is like an endangered species. (laughs)

I’ve known SUGIZO for 30 years, and if he wasn’t here, X JAPAN will not have reunited, so I’m so grateful. In terms of guitar, SUGIZO also has his own genre. Just by chance, I would listen to a record and I would think “This sounds like SUGIZO!” and it would be him. He also can play a noisy style and a very nice, beautiful style. We also do a lot of collaborations with piano and his violin, so SUGIZO is also a genre. Rather than having a guitarist, vocalist and guitarist, these three people are their own genres.

HYDE: Can I actually begin talking about YOSHIKI? There’s really no one like YOSHIKI, in the past and in the future. There really will be no one like him in the future as well, so just to be able to spend time with him like this, it’s so enriching. Every hour I spend with him is so stimulating. There is no one like him, who is so rock with his life and everything, so we are here with that feeling.

YOSHIKI: I’m very honored, thank you.

MIYAVI: HYDE has created his own style as a vocalist, and he has like a coolness and a cuteness.

YOSHIKI: We all have a cuteness. (laughs)

MIYAVI: I love that balance. As a frontman, he has this charisma and that is something very unique. SUGIZO is a professor. He would be Dr. Strange in “The Avengers”. In the band, he is like the brain. We can rely on him musically. And YOSHIKI, as a musician and as a rockstar, we both went to the world from Japan and this is not just about making good music, there are a lot of things like the lifestyle itself. To be challenging the world is actually very hard. There’s a lot of shame that we feel, embarrassment…we experience these difficulties, so we share that. I know that, and I feel that we share that. So, to be moving forward together, YOSHIKI is the only person who can pull us together. Even if something might get lost, we are still gonna do it, so thanks to you YOSHIKI, we are here.

YOSHIKI: It is such an honor. Thank you. I’m really giving it my everything, but you all really protect me and are here for me.

SUGIZO: MIYAVI, it’s been about more than a decade since I met you. I was surprised—I was shocked to see such a wonderful blend of talent and musicality. His performance skills, musical skills, his groove…is just exceptional, so you are a true genius. I’m just always blown away and, other than music, we are also philanthropists, so I really respect that.

HYDE and I have known each other for a long time, but we haven’t had that much communication. I’ve gone to see L'Arc-en-Ciel’s live performances since before they debuted, and I always knew they were a really great band, and before I knew it, they grew and became famous. We ran through the same time period in the 90’s, so he is like a comrade, and we have been climbing the spiral ladder and stairs and we are finally working together. When HYDE sings to the music I create, it becomes HYDE’s music. He is so magical. With all our bands, there’s a collaboration that happens when HYDE brings together all of our music.

YOSHIKI, I’ve known you for almost 32 years, so in our little village, you are the boss in this village. It’s like we went to the same school together and now we’re 50, so you’re like a real big brother to me. As HYDE said, you are like really one in a hundred or two hundred years. You are like Mozart, this genius…Beethoven was a person of effort and Mozart was this genius, so it’s like right now we have Beethoven, Mozart and Schubert working together. The three of you are people that I respect truly from my heart, and it is such an honor to be working with you.

Thank you for reading us your love letters to each other. Do we have more questions?

You all rock and you are all stars. In one word, what is the “X factor” that you bring to this band? And also, the two songs are in English, is this a deliberate choice? A direction? The songs will be in English?

MIYAVI: In one word, what I can bring to this band is, well, maybe, “explosion”. I think that’s my role. I mean, chemistry-wise. I think we’re gonna mix English and Japanese, maybe some Chinese… We are really open.

SUGIZO: That’s a pretty hard question, because everyone is rather explosive, and we all have musical knowledge. Maybe “glamour”, “explosion” and “increasing the potential of music”… I don’t know…

HYDE: In one word? “Potential”. We were working individually, then all the dots connected. So, from here on, I’m interested in seeing what it’s gonna be like in the future, because we can only see the future growing into something big. I feel that.

YOSHIKI: I’d say “love”. The reason why we want to challenge the world and why we wanna be big rockstars, why we call ourselves THE LAST ROCKSTARS is because our lives are limited, but our music lives on, and our lifestyle lives on. We’re not gonna live forever, someday we will die, but the way we lived creating our music, will last forever. I think what we wanna convey is “love”. As long as we are living and rocking, we can inspire the world to convey love. It’s not an exact, direct answer, but, in one word, I cannot live without music, you know, without love. In my life, I’ve been very suicidal, but at the same time, I’m surrounded by amazing fans, amazing members, and amazing people, so that’s why I could move forward. It’s time to give back to them. I think that’s our overall goal. We are not trying to be just famous; we are not trying to just conquer the world, I think we are trying to spread the love.

You have live shows coming out in Japan and the US, and since you all have experience overseas, are you planning on performing in Asia as well as Europe? Are there also any rock festivals that you would like to perform at in the US or Japan?

YOSHIKI: I’m going to give my spirit and soul to each song that I create, but I personally – not trying to sound negative, but I don’t know how many shows I can do in the future. One hundred shows is something I cannot imagine, so I really need to be careful about planning the number of shows I can perform. If we can go to France, Germany… If our fans take us there, then I’d love to, but with each show it is always going to be… I’m shedding my life, basically. Each show is very important to me, I’m not going to hardly just go overseas. Of course, I would love to travel to many venues.

MIYAVI: Let’s do more than a hundred! Because we are doing six, so that means 94 left?

YOSHIKI: Of course, I want to, but who knows, we may not have six shows. (laughs) I’m kidding. We will do it. Personally, the last festival I’ve performed at was Coachella, and it was very stimulating because we had an audience who were not necessarily our fans, and unless we performed seriously, people would throw beer bottles at us. So it was very stimulating. I’d love to perform at overseas festivals. HYDE also performed a lot [at festivals] overseas, right?

HYDE: It’s funny because you see people playing with their smartphones while we are performing, and I’d be like—I want to pick it up and talk to whoever is on the other side. But yeah, we have all performed and fought overseas and we are ready to enjoy being critiqued overseas.

SUGIZO: There are instances where the shows do not sell out, we only have a half-full house, but that’s why you feel the people who are there are important. We want to give it our everything. We want to make people who weren’t there regret it. That kind of feeling is a feeling you have before you debut, but once you become successful and that becomes a norm, you start to forget that feeling. We want to remember that feeling. All of us have had our careers for 30 years now.

YOSHIKI: I really love that feeling of being away, being far from Japan, but, actually, wherever we perform, we have MIYAVI fans, HYDE fans, SUGIZO fans, L’Arc fans, and YOSHIKI fans. All of you are going to be cheering for us, so wherever we go, we’re gonna have everyone supporting us. So, in a way, maybe we are not “away”.

MIYAVI: When I perform overseas, I want people who already root for us to be performing with us. Their energy is there with us.

YOSHIKI: We are all going to see a new dream together.

SUGIZO: And our fans are creating the music with us. I can hear the screaming of all of our fans and I’m sure all of them are going to wonder about each of our bands, but what’s important is that as musicians, as we grow, we are expanding, so we can really give our everything to all of our projects, to LUNA SEA, to L’Arc, to VAMPS… HYDE is always gonna to give his everything. So, we are all going to create a new dream together.

YOSHIKI: Wonderfully put. We all have been talking a lot about dreams, but we are going to look back at this one day.

SUGIZO: You are here YOSHIKI because we have these fans who have watched over us for the past 30 years, so this doesn’t mean our activities are going to end for our own bands. This “spirit of challenge” is our instinct as rock musicians. So, this is really going to strengthen our activities.

YOSHIKI: Going beyond the comfort zone is not easy. I totally believe – I really believe our fans are gonna support us. Our future is going to determine whether this band was a success or not, so I really hope that our fans can follow us.

Links to purchase tickets for THE LAST ROCKSTARS' debut shows are available on the band's official website.